Joseph and Potiphar's wife; and Susanna and the Elders

In these early paintings by Carlo Francesco Nuvolone, the artist creates prototypes for figures that he repeats in his later, large-scale works. The position of Susanna's torso and arms, as well as her glance to the right is conspicuously repeated in the wounded figure of Dorinda in Silvio, Dorinda, Linco (J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles). The bearded male figure on the left is also used again, in almost precisely the same form, in Nuvolone's monumental work of the same subject in Milan (Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan).

We are grateful to Professor Francesco Frangi for suggesting the attribution to Carlo Francesco Nuvolone, and a date of circa 1635, on the basis of transparencies (private communication, 24 July 2007).